[Shout out to Alex and Alex!]

Chapter 38

December 24th, 1999.

It was early in the morning, but everyone was on the move. Busy with preparations for Christmas Eve. It was 4 a.m. and the sun was still not shining, but people were already making noise.

Like the other families, we woke up early. Even the children, who were not used to getting up early, were wide awake. They felt the changes and excitement of yesterday.

All they knew was that Penelope got money and everyone was happy. To be honest, they didn't know how much 100 thousand pesos was.

Last night at dinner, everyone was talking happily. No one talked about what happened last time. They seemed to have forgotten about it. Even Señorita was behaving well. Although it was clear that she didn't like Penelope with her staring.

Anyway, we didn't care.

We had a sumptuous meal. The vegetables and the meat were eaten. Even the chocolates we had brought were eaten.

"I'll go down."

"Don't push yourself, honey."

"..."

I went to the old water pump to get water for the children. The children wanted to go to town.

We decided to take them to see the town and buy some things. The kids were obviously excited, maybe that was why they woke up early.

"How's your night, brother-in-law?"

I found Santiago pumping water. He was the youngest child in the family and had just graduated from high school this year.

"It was fine. We slept well."

"You didn't get bitten by any mosquitoes, did you? You know mosquitoes are everywhere."

"We used mosquito repellent incense." I yawned and stretched my arms out. It was kind of cold, to be honest. Well, December was a cold month.

"That's good."

"What about you? What are you going to do after this? I heard you just graduated from high school."

Santiago was still young and could take it slow. No, I tell him to take it slow.

"You are still young. You have time to think about it."

"Hm, I'm actually thinking about going to college next year. It's too late to enroll now, hehe." He said and pushed down the lever of the old water pump.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's good. A college degree is important."

For the next two decades, companies would still ask employees for college degrees. They would also ask if the student had two years of work experience...

But it was still 1999. In this era, companies have come to understand the importance of a college degree. Let's just say they have a biased opinion about non-college graduates.

If you don't have a college degree, you're nothing but garbage. Society will treat you as garbage. I witnessed so many people who would die just to get college degrees. Seriously.

That's pretty prejudiced if you ask me.

"So what course are you going to take?"

"Well, I'm thinking engineering. Maybe civil engineering or electrical engineering."

"If you work hard, you can do it," I said to motivate him.

Unlike me, who didn't finish college because I got stuck with Penelope's panties. I didn't regret it.

At the time, I didn't think college was important. Because I would inherit my parents' fortune. Maybe I would have a position in one of the companies my father owned.

Actually, one of the companies belonged to my grandfather. I think my grandfather still owns 25 percent of the construction company.

"What about you, brother-in-law? What are you going to do with the money?"

"I want to start a business. Not too big, maybe a restaurant or a bakery."

"I heard that a restaurant can be very profitable."

"It depends. If the food is always sold out, then it would not be a problem."

As a taxi driver, I saw a lot of roadside businesses. Many eateries made money because eating is a must. I also saw some restaurants that closed down after a few months because they could not make a profit.

Eatery needs a lot of factors to make a big profit. In my opinion, there are two important factors. The location is very important and the taste of the food should be great. If one of these factors doesn't meet the criteria, the business might fail.

"See you later, brother-in-law."

"Okay."

Santiago carried two gallons of water and returned to the house.

I took the lever of the water pump and filled the basin. There was no water station near the village.

So the villagers could only use wells, rivers, ponds, and the water pump. Fortunately, the rivers and ponds were clean and not affected by industrialization.

Once the new century came, most of the rivers in the country would be polluted...

I shook my head at the thought.

Everyone knew it would happen, but no one was really trying to stop it. Organizations that promote environmental protection would only rise up when it was too late.

Why did I know this? Because that's what happened in the near future.

Pasig River was an important river connecting Laguna Bay and Manila Bay. They only cleaned it when the river became uninhabitable for most fishes. The smell of the river became terrible.

In my opinion, it was too late to clean up the Pasig River. The water was already polluted.

However, I respect the fact that people joined in and worked hard to clean up the river. It was a commendable act.

As I finished my thoughts on the environment, I realized that the basin was already full. I stopped pumping and carried the basin back to the room.

When I returned, I found that Penelope and the children had already had breakfast.

"Honey, I have bread and coffee."

"Thanks." I nodded and sat down after placing the basin in the corner of the room.

"Children, come here. I'll wash your face first."

"Mommy, me!" Sophia raised both hands and waved. She wanted to finish the preparations early so they could get to the city quickly.

"Okay, sweetheart."

Penelope grunted slightly as she carried Sophia. It seemed that our baby was getting heavier.

While I ate, Penelope started washing the children's faces. Sophia was moving around, she could not sit still.

"Sophia, baby. Please stay still. Don't waste the water. Do you want Daddy to go out and carry water again?"

"Yes, Mommy. I want to."

"..."

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